College St. John’s Falls Short in BIG EAST Opener by Kayla Machlica January 2, 2016 (COREY SIPKIN/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS) QUEENS, N.Y. (Dec. 31, 2015) – On New Year’s Eve, in front of 4,633 fans at Carnesecca Arena, St. John’s took a loss to Creighton, 80-70, at the BIG EAST opener. Five out of the nine Red Storm players who played were making their BIG EAST debut. Freshmen Malik Ellison scored a career-high 17 points, Durand Johnson had 14 points and reached double-figures for the fifth-straight game, Yankuba Sima put up 12 points, and Felix Balamou scored nine points and had five assists in his first start of the season. The Bluejays opened the game with an early eight-point lead before Johnson gave St. John’s seven-straight points to make it a 15-13 ballgame half way through the first half. Creighton rose by as many as 11 with five minutes to go in the half before the Red Storm scored eight-straight points and cut the deficit to 33-29 at the break. Senior Geoffrey Groselle of the Bluejays went for a game-high 22 points. Mo Watson Jr. scored 17 points and had eight assists and Cole Huff made 14 points and had 11 rebounds, making it a double-double to guide Creighton (10-4, 1-0) to its third-straight win. The Bluejays shot 46.4 percent or 26-of-56 from the field, hitting seven 3-pointers, and made 21-of-29 free throws or 72.4 percent. St. John’s were down by two, 39-37, after Johnson nailed his second 3-pointer with 17:04 left of the second half. Watson Jr. and Isaiah Zierden fired back with 3s as the Bluejays gained an eight-point lead. The Red Storm were then down by 10 before Johnson made a layup and Ellison made a pair of free throws to make it 56-50. St. John’s were only behind by six with 9:59 to go, but the Bluejays used an 8-0 run to open up a 14-point lead. The Red Storm would get no closer than 10 for the rest of the game. The Red Storm shot 53.3 percent or 16-of-30 from the field in the second half, but could not overcome the halftime deficit. Groselle scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half and finished 9-for-10 from the field. St. John’s returns to action on Jan. 2 with a 3:30 p.m. road game against No. 12/13 Providence (FS1). Post Views: 1,067 The following two tabs change content below.BioLatest Posts Kayla Machlica Kayla is the St. John's basketball writer here at DoubleGSports.com. Latest posts by Kayla Machlica (see all) St. John’s Brings Down Both #1 and #4 Teams In Less Than One Week - February 8, 2018 St John’s JaKarr Sampson Signs Contract with the Sacramento Kings - July 31, 2017 Villanova Swipes Win from St. John’s - March 10, 2017 St. John’s Downs Georgetown to Advance to Next Round in the BIG EAST Tourney - March 9, 2017 Related Topics Click to comment You must be logged in to post a comment Login Leave a Reply Cancel replyYou must be logged in to post a comment. Newsletter Subscription Can't Miss Posts! Women in Sports: NHL Network Host, Jackie Redmond by Nicholas Durst | posted on March 4, 2019 Lochte, Dressel and Ledecky all Chasing Gold at 2021 Tokyo Olympics by Anthony Paradiso | posted on April 18, 2021 You Know I’m Right, Episode 109: The Athletic’s Marc Carig (Audio/Video) by Nicholas Durst | posted on April 19, 2021 Michael Jordan Could Change the Future of Nascar for the Better by Inesh Chari | posted on March 30, 2021 You Know I’m Right, Episode 106: Newsday’s Neil Best (Audio/Video) by Nicholas Durst | posted on April 12, 2021 More in College You Know I’m Right, Episode 107: New York Post’s Columnist Mike Vaccaro (Audio/Video) On the 107th episode of You Know I’m Right, Nick Durst and Joe Calabrese are joined by... Master P’s Son, Hercy, Commits to Tennessee State Master P’s son, Hercy Miller, is committing to Tennessee State to play basketball. While... EA Sports Plans to Revive College Football Video Game EA Sports announced that they plan on making college football video games again. The... UVM Women’s Basketball Team Quits 2020-2021 Season The University of Vermont (UVM) women’s basketball will be ending their 2020-2021 season early... Rutgers Women’s Basketball Defeats Minnesota in Big Ten Opener Chris Ash Puts an Emphasis on Recruiting